When it comes to lunch, we office folk run the gamut from simple brown-baggers, creatures of City Bakery habit, and mid-day indulgences. Sometimes we splurge, sometimes we make lunchtime pilgrimages all the way to Calexico, but no matter the ratio of PB&J to gourmet forays, there is always something damn good to oogle, sniff or steal a bite of. Today Foster Kamer’s choice sparked jealousy in even the most frugal lunchers.
What Foster Ate: Hill Country
On his plate: Lunch Special—BBQ Beef Sammy, Side of Cole Slaw, Mason Jar of Sweet Tea (Extra $1)
Why he chose Hill Country: Chose it because I needed something heavy and I’ve been craving Sweet Tea (in a mason jar, the real kind) like a muh. I also got a large Sweet Tea for Berman, but he’s not back yet and I don’t know if he knows what he’s in for. That fucker is we’re-gonna-need-a-bigger-boat huge. For $5, you could sip on that thing all day. For serious.
Delivery or Pickup: Delivery. And I’m pretty sure the delivery guy was stoned. But really, really friendly. An enjoyable delivery experience, if I’ve ever had one.
Highs: I always love it when Barna comes over to sniff around. I inevitably end up giving him a “nosh.” This is almost a seal-of-approval ritual for me. Also, sweet tea. Also, it was really, really good.
Lows: Bridgette ordered with me, and for $5, the side of mac and cheese she got was just sad. Like, small. She couldn’t finish it, but that’s because it was so heavy. But good. But small. Complicated emotions, here. Also, I love the assembly process by which Hill Country makes you make your own sandwich, but I forgot that there’s labor involved. Another mixed emotion.
Perks: I don’t know. Perks? I’m not hungry any more. Oh! Here’s one: more drinking vessels for the office in the form of mason jars. Our office can use more of a Southern Living charm besides all the fucked up racial tensions.
Price: $30 and change. My lunch special was $12 (normally $11, but the Sweet Tea jacks it up a buck). Andrew’s Sweet Teazilla was $5. B’s M&C was $5. Tax was like, $4 or $5 whatever, and I tipped DeliveryBro $5. 
Nice setup.
fek:
I just confirmed my magazine assignments for December/January.
- Drake
- The xx
- Speech Debelle
Funny enough, the one I didn’t pitch of those three: Drake, the most epic of that list, even though I’ll be doing a phoner with him and Speech Debelle (who got stuck in London because of visa issues, and can’t make CMJ because of it).
The xx, I get to talk to sometime next week. Hip hop interviews are the best; without fail, they will almost always give you substantially less bullshit than their counterparts outside the genre. The British, too: last month, La Roux gave me a great quote about how interviews are complete bullshit (in most cases, present company included, I couldn’t agree more).
Two hip-hop interviews, one a Jew, one a Brit, and a bunch of mopey British kids who still have no idea why everyone likes them so much. This is an insanely great, great set of assignments. If you don’t know why: here’s a live set by The xx, my new favorite track on Speech’s album, and Drake throwing down new classics. There are worse positions to be in. As Nic said, it’s not like you work in a steel mill. No: I definitely don’t.
And that’s how we do it here.
Bon Iver feat. St. Vincent - Roslyn
Oh, hm. What do we have here? The new Bon Iver track from the New Moon soundtrack? Sure sounds like it is. For those of you who are asking yourself Why the fuck would Bon Iver, Thom York, Lykke Li, Death Cab, Grizzly Bear, etc contribute original songs to the fucking Twilight movie? The Arcade Fire won’t let NBC use their songs, but these guys?
Just remember Dashboard Confessional’s paycheck for “Vindicated” from Spider Man 2: a cool million. And how long did it take him to turn out?
The original song that was going to be used on the Spider-Man 2 Soundtrack was called “I Need a Sure Thing”, but after Chris Carrabba had gotten a special screening of the movie, he wrote “Vindicated” in just 15 minutes.
So, sometimes, money might be a motivator. It’s a hard fact to deal with, but: the New Moon soundtrack has a great lineup.
416 plays…Cheaply copied reminiscences of a blurrily imagined decade are basically their own genre now, cloudy and proud. The sound has many names, but none of them seem to fit just right. Dream-beat, chillwave, glo-fi, hypnagogic pop, even hipster-gogic pop— all are imperfect phrases for describing a psychedelic music that’s generally one or all of the following: synth-based, homemade-sounding, 80s-referencing, cassette-oriented, sun-baked, laid-back, warped, hazy, emotionally distant, slightly out of focus. Washed Out. Memory Tapes. Ducktails. Ah-woo-ooh.
Say what you will about the music snobs at Pitchfork, and yeah, there’s plenty to gnaw on. But they’re still writing better music reviews than anybody else, whether you like what they’re writing about or not.
So typical: you like Locanda, but not Marea or Sho. Let’s look at Locanda: partnered with DeNiro, in Tribeca, trendy Italian that’s also on board the over-three-months-ago “fried chicken dinner” trend. Meanwhile, Marea and Sho get the snub?
If you don’t like Marea, you deserve to have your taste buds revoked. It’s the best new restaurant in town on every front. Ah, I forgot why I’m supposed to not like it: it’s on Central Park South and they don’t play Jay-Z during service. Same thing with Sho. People hate Sho because they want to hate Sho, because it’s not between 14th and Canal and, fuck, some bankers might go there. Sho’s serving some of most technically accomplished food in town, cheaper than anyone else, because their owners are invested in longevity and turning FiDi into a dining destination over time. These two restaurants are ahead of the game. Step off.
I don’t agree with this (hate Sho, love Laconda Verde, like Corton, don’t love Marea) list entirely, but are some good national picks. I often forget that good food exists in the US outside NY & SF, but it DOES.
If you don’t like Japandroids, fine. But if you can’t appreciate what they’re trying to do, you deserve to be fucked in the ear.
Fact.
(via simko)
